In an optical communication network, optical signals, having optical channels centered around individual wavelengths (sometimes referred to as “wavelength channels”), may be transmitted from one location to another through a length of an optical fiber, such as a single-mode fiber (SMF). An optical cross-connect module may allow for switching of optical signals from one optical fiber to another optical fiber. Similarly, a wavelength-selective optical cross-connect (herein referred to as a “wavelength selective switch” (WSS)) may provide for reconfigurable wavelength-dependent switching between optical fibers. In other words, the WSS may allow one or more first wavelength channels to be switched from a first optical fiber to a second optical fiber, while permitting one or more second (i.e., different) wavelength channels to propagate in the second optical fiber or to be switched to a third optical fiber. In a typical scenario, the WSS may be configured to switch wavelength channels between one or more input optical fibers and a group (e.g., four, eight, ten, twenty, etc.) output optical fibers.